Our Dark Angel
by Dreamworks008
Summary: A mad scientist's dream brings a nightmare upon the world. SeeD must go up against another sorceress. They will either bring back their princess, be forced to destroy her, or fail altogether. Will anyone survive the wrath or loss of this angel?


**A/N: **This an updated version of the Prologue posted to fix an enormous plot hole in the original version. Despite that literary chasm, a couple of people did actually like the story and saw through to the potential greatness of what I hope will be an epic tale. That said I would like to make my first dedication. This repost of the Prologue is dedicated to Master Solitarius and freestyler91 for their encouragement and constructive criticism.

I hope you all enjoy this, my first fanfic ever. I have a good feeling about it. Be sure to R/R for me. It'd be greatly appreciated.

I'd like to get things off to a good start by saying that I do not own nor do I profit from the use of any of the characters, settings, or any other elements that we've all come to know and love from the Final Fantasy universe appearing herein. They are in fact the exclusive property of a little company called Square-Enix. And now, on with the feature...

**Prologue**

We all thought she'd be different. How could she be evil? She was Rinoa, the Princess, the wide-eyed, hopeful, innocent little girl who believed that she could talk the world into peace and freedom. But the world and its people are corrupt, broken. And now…so is she. I hate the world. I hate people.

A sorceress isn't born evil; their hearts aren't innately cold and black. It is the power that corrodes the soul over time. Or is it the influence of some external malevolent force? Or is it pain that turns a woman's heart into something colder than if kissed by Shiva herself. Maybe it's the sum of all those things or maybe there's a cause I missed, but it was NOT supposed to happen to her. Not Rinoa.

It's been 8 years since we defeated the Sorceress Ultimecia. Memories of that epic battle haunt me even today. Things were good for a time; normalcy returned and we experienced a period of true peace. The idea of peace is this beautiful thing that all people wish for. The reality is actually quite dull and boring. To a soldier peace means being without a job, without purpose. Members of SeeD and the Galbadian and Esthar military forces alike had to get regular jobs…or didn't. The Gardens became nothing more than expensive private schools.

Rinoa and I moved to Esthar City where I served under my father, President Loire, as his Secretary of Defense. Given the utterly peaceful state of things at the time, I was obviously just a figurehead. It was to give me something to do really, even if it was just a bunch of paper-pushing and meetings where I would sit and say absolutely nothing. Rinoa bought into the pet shop. As 20% owner she changed the name to Angelo's Place, made Angelo the official mascot (of course), and to top it off, she developed several Angelo brand pet products including Angelo Rush doggie biscuits. I swear there were times when I thought she loved that mutt more than me. Selphie moved to Esthar too and became an event planner. Zell and Quistis stayed in Balamb. Zell opened his own martial arts studio. Selphie would sometimes make the trip and serve as a guest weapons instructor when her schedule allowed. Cid reinstated Quistis as an instructor at Garden. Irvine surprisingly became an acclaimed author, debuting with his memoir of what came to be called The Great Sorceress Calamity. I guess a recounting of how a ragtag bunch of kids went up against three immensely powerful sorceresses and averted the end of existence itself would be a bestseller, wouldn't it?

Things turned ugly when Dr. Odine took far too much of an interest in Rinoa. Another sorceress so close at hand was too much for him to resist. And the fact that she was apparently relatively weak, docile, and not in any position of power meant that she could be taken easily. Odine had secret ambitions. No one could have ever imagined that he meant to take over Esthar and ultimately the world using a sorceress as a living weapon. He feared Adel too much to try when she reigned and didn't have the chance to try when she made her brief return. His plan to capture Edea using his masterpiece, the Odine Bangle, failed. She was too smart. It was almost as if she could sense what it was as Rinoa innocently tried to pass it off as a gift. Now Rinoa is a sorceress and in her powers he saw one more chance to realize his twisted ambition.

We didn't get much from Teela's police report. She was the cashier on duty the day they took her. Rinoa was there doing inventory or whatever. Teela said she told her she was stepping out back to get a break from the paperwork, her least favorite part of managing the shop. Teela took care of the few customers that had been milling around the shop and realized she hadn't seen Rinoa come back in. She checked the office thinking maybe she'd missed her. Nothing. She checked outside. No Rinoa, but she did find something else. She noticed what looked like fresh tire tracks coupled with the faint lingering scent of burnt rubber. She also found a torn piece of Rinoa's favorite blue sweater. Immediately, she called the police. The police called me. I raged so I wouldn't cry. I was angry with Teela, blamed her. I spat and cursed at the officers as I asked question after question and got not one satisfactory answer. No one knew anything. No one saw anything.

My position actually was good for something. I ordered a thorough search of Esthar and surrounding areas, making it clear that special attention was to be paid to Odine's facilities. Somehow we didn't find her. We still don't know how he did it, but he hid her away. Eventually I just broke down, gave up. I was nothing but a thin fragile shell for weeks. I never cried. I wanted to, needed to, tried to, but not a single tear fell. I guess subconsciously I thought that crying would make it real. Friends visited, my father did his best to keep me from falling apart. I ate and drank only enough to stay alive, because some part of could still feel her. Some part of me knew she was alive and hoped that that meant we would be together again.

Weeks turned to months and still I hoped. I slowly returned to myself, went on with life, but I never stopped willing her return. She had been missing for two years before the incident occurred. For two long years Rinoa was imprisoned and experimented on. As he thought, she was fairly weak, so the good doctor tried to forcibly increase her powers, tried to accelerate a process that takes years. He needed her powerful now; he didn't have time to waste. She did become powerful, frighteningly so. She also became angry. She finally had the means to free herself from captivity and the horrors of Dr. Odine's madness. Our once sweet, happy Rinoa exacted a terrible, bloody revenge on the Doctor. There was nothing left of him, his facilities, or anyone employed therein.

Though the Esthar military had been effectively disbanded, it wasn't too difficult to assemble and mobilize the hundreds of troops that still resided in and around Esthar. Once military, always military. They still remembered their training and were aching to be back in the heat of battle. They were laid to waste. My beautiful, loving Rinoa reduced all those men to ash in a matter of minutes. Driven by adrenaline, fear, love, I don't know what, I peeled off through the city in my car and headed for the lab. I didn't know what I was going to say or do when I got to her. Some small part of me thought that she might even kill me just like she did those soldiers. Maybe whatever that thing was, all full of anger and pain, wasn't even Rinoa anymore.

I made it to the lab in what seemed like seconds. All I saw at first was smoke, fire, destruction. Small explosions went off around me making me jump and cover myself reflexively as I stepped through the rubble trying to find some sign of her. Then I looked up. There she was. Rinoa. Our Rinoa. My Rinoa. She was still beautiful floating above the smoldering ruins of Odine Labs, but at the same time utterly terrifying. Somehow I was expecting more of a physical transformation, but she still looked largely like herself. Her face was hers but it had become pale and translucent, large blue veins showing just under the skin. Her raven-colored hair seemed longer, wilder. Finally, my eyes were ready to see the most glaringly un-Rinoa-like trait. Wings of the blackest black had sprouted from her back and it was they that kept her aloft with their slow rhythmic beating.

"RINOA!!" I screamed up at her. She looked down at me then. The look in her eyes was nothing but predatory. I was nothing to her in that moment but prey. Just one more target for her intense wrath, cannon fodder.

She gracefully descended toward me. She landed on tip-toe, barely touching the ground just inches away from me. Still staring at me, I noticed something new in those terrible, beautiful eyes. Was it amusement? Pity? All I know is that I suddenly felt trapped in those eyes, frozen. As she glided forward closing that small distance between us, every cell, every molecule in my body wanted to run. I was so scared. But underneath the paralyzing fear was still love for her, my Rinoa, my angel. She brought up a hand to caress the left side of my face, and at the same time began to envelope us both in the black, black wings of hers. She slid her hand from my face to the back of my neck as she leaned in and whispered, "Rinoa isn't here anymore." As if punctuating the statement she was gone in a rush of wind and obsidian feathers. Her hold on me broken, I fell lifelessly to the ground. There was no more fear, no sadness, there was only darkness.

I awoke in a hospital bed surrounded by familiar faces. My father came to my bedside. He said I had been in a coma for almost two weeks.

"So all that was real? Rinoa really did destroy the lab and murder all those people?!" I was suddenly frantic with the realization.

"Calm down, Squall. Please, son, be still." I did as he asked. I calmed myself, attempted to breathe and slow my heart rate to a healthy level. "Yes, I'm afraid this nightmare is very real. Dr. Odine's experiments forced Rinoa's budding sorceress powers to awaken before their time. The full force of her own power running through her all at once has twisted her, driven her mad. We haven't seen or heard of her since the incident. Recon missions were ordered but no one has turned up any clues as to her whereabouts or what her next move might be."

I was beginning to lose my composure again. It was all too much. My mind, my heart didn't want to accept this reality. "THIS WASN'T SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN TO HER!!!" The desperate cry that had been repeating in head for the past few minutes came spilling out of its own accord bringing with it the tears I had yet to begin shedding for her.

"It's OK, son, let it out," Laguna said as he held me tight and rocked my quaking, sobbing form.

I was vaguely aware of someone entering the room. No doubt it was a nurse that had come to see what all the commotion was about. Selphie assured her that everything was fine and ushered her out. She returned to the group surrounding my bed. "So what do we do now? I mean, there's a new sorceress…a bad one, ya know…and we _are_ still SeeD…"

"Not right now, Selphie," Irvine warned, feeling it was much too soon to discuss such dark business. But she was right. We were SeeD. And as SeeD we have a duty. Our contract with the world didn't end with Ultimecia's defeat.

"No, she's right," I said pulling myself away from Laguna. I took a moment to master myself before I continued. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath in, out, then opened my eyes again. "We will find Rinoa and if there's even a little bit of her left inside that monster, we'll get her back." I began to shake. I felt like I was going to break down again just thinking about my next words. "And if…if we can't bring her back to us…we have no choice but to…eliminate her."

"Squall," Quistis uttered, tears pushing at the edges of her eyes.

I'd had enough of reality for a while. I slumped back unto the bed, curled up into the fetal position and closed my eyes. They were good, smart friends. They took my cue and began filing out of my hospital room. No one said a word; the only sound was their footsteps. They left and I slept. Mercifully, my mind was too tired to let me dream. Undoubtedly any dream would have been filled with images of her. Heartbreaking ones of the way she was…and frightful ones of what she has become.

That was 3 years ago.


End file.
